Begin of the Opening of the Geothermal Borehole in Basel

On 28 March 2017, in consultation with Basel Industrielle Werke (IWB) the Department of Health of the Canton of Basel decided to re-open the borehole in late June created in Basel as part of the "Deep Heat Mining" geothermal power project 2006. With the support of IWB, the SED has stepped up its seismic monitoring on behalf of the Canton of Basel-Stadt. In addition to routine seismic monitoring, the SED conducts a very thorough daily search for earthquakes near the borehole and automatically transmits the results to the Canton and IWB. These earthquake notifications form the basis of the traffic-light system defined by IWB, which is an important measure for reducing earthquake risk. All detected earthquakes are immediately published on the "List of Earthquakes" here.

The decision to open the borehole was prompted by an increase in microearthquake activity in the immediate vicinity of the borehole over the past few months. An extensive scientific study by the SED revealed that the increased earthquake activity will most probably subside again in the long term if the borehole is opened.

Further information on the opening process of the borehole can be found in the press release of the canton Basel-Stadt.